The National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by Mr. John Dramani Mahama has pledged to develop a national policy to restructure the small-scale mining sector by setting Gold Board.
The Board will provide support services to the sector, ranging from concession viability, health, safety and efficiency in mine operations, equipment financing and mining input, research and standardization, gold recovery optimization as well as post-mining, and land reclamation services.
GOLDBOD will issue licenses to Ghanaian companies and foreign companies with local partners, giving clear geographical boundaries as their catchment area for production.
It will also compel small-scale miners to undertake skills training in land reclamation techniques as a required component of their operations to minimise their adverse environmental impacts.
The opposition Party says it will put a ban on the export of unrefined gold produced by the small-scale mining companies in Ghana, via the establishment of gold refineries in gold producing regions of the country in conjunction with the private sector.
The NDC has also promised to introduce an off-taker system for the refined gold, with a buying program, where the Bank of Ghana, will refine gold as part of the Central Bank’s newly introduced precious metal reserve purchasing programme and ensure that the Bank of Ghana’s purchasing programme will be backed by a metal leveraging programme with international bullion holders.
It said it will hold a portion of the Country’s international reserves in Gold to help stabilize the economy and currency.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora